Archive for the ‘ U.S. Department of Justice ’ Category

Well the pot is boiling now that the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Intelligence memo, drafted by the committee majority, commonly-referred to as the Nunes-Memo, has been declassified by President Donald Trump.

On Sept. 2, 2015, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Todd Spitzer was emotional while reflecting on an incident more than five months previously at Wahoo’s Fish Tacos in Lake Forest. He handcuffed Jeobay Castellano and called police when the man would not stop trying to proselytize even when Spitzer told him he was a Christian. (File photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The day after the news show “60 Minutes” turned a national spotlight on local prosecutors’ misuse of jailhouse informants, an Orange County supervisor formally asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take over the district attorney’s office.

The Justice Department on Friday fired an opening shot in the Trump administration’s crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities, sending letters to nine jurisdictions asking for proof that they are cooperating with immigration enforcement, and indicating they are at risk of losing federal grants.

California leaders say they will continue to protect people in the country illegally despite an announcement by U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions that the U.S. Department of Justice would soon cut federal grants from so-called sanctuary cities.

Ruben Vives and Cindy Carcamo March 27, 2017

Leaders from so-called sanctuary cities across Southern California struck a defiant tone Monday, stating that they would continue to protect people who are in the country illegally despite threats by U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to cut off and even claw back grant funding from the Justice Department.

The U.S. Department of Justice is carrying out a new probe into the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Seen are DA Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. (File photos by Orange County Register/SCNG)

Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer Jan. 6, 2017 – Updated 9:18 p.m.

Community forums. Face-to-face meetings with leaders of the local deputies union and with local defense attorneys. Twitter.

For nearly five years, the Public Corruption and Civil Rights section of the U.S. attorney’s office had been building and winning cases against a group from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department accused of carrying out a plan to obstruct a federal investigation into allegations of inmate abuse at the county jails.

The U.S. Department of Justice is launching a civil rights investigation into the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department over allegations that prosecutors and police routinely withhold evidence and use jailhouse informants to illegally obtain confessions. From left, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. (Photos by Orange County Register/SCNG)

The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department on Thursday over allegations that prosecutors and deputies withhold evidence and use jailhouse informants to illegally obtain confessions.

What in the world was Bill Clinton thinking when he dropped by to “just say hello” to Attorney General Loretta Lynch when they both had their personal planes parked at the Phoenix airport the other day?

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, but he nonetheless should serve time in prison for lying to federal investigators during a probe into jail abuses by sheriff’s deputies, the U.S. attorney’s office has concluded.

The U.S. Justice Department has joined a whistle-blower case against Prime Healthcare Services, adding significant weight to allegations of widespread Medicare overbilling at 14 of the company’s hospitals in California.

A federal judge has ordered annual ethics classes for Justice Department attorneys as a punishment for being “intentionally deceptive” during litigation over President Obama’s executive immigration orders.

Federal prosecutors and FBI agents investigating allegations of inmate abuse at a San Bernardino County jail have conducted follow-up interviews with about a half-dozen current and former prisoners in the last month, their attorneys said.

PASADENA >> A defense attorney in San Bernardino County’s Colonies corruption case and an assistant U.S. attorney battled it out in federal court Thursday over whether the government should destroy documents seized during a search of defendant Jeff Burum’s home and office in 2011.

Former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka leaves the downtown federal courthouse after a jury convicted him on conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. (Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times)

Joel Rubin April 6, 2016

A federal jury on Wednesday convicted former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka of deliberately impeding an FBI investigation, capping a jail abuse and obstruction scandal that reached to the top echelons of the Sheriff’s Department.

Federal officials on Monday dropped their legal fight against Apple after unlocking the iPhone used by an assailant in last year’s San Bernardino terror attack, leaving unsettled a vexing debate over privacy and security amid rapid advances in technology.

Apple and the FBI are at odds over creating software to unlock an iPhone belonging to San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. (Erik S. Lesser / EPA)

Joel Rubin February 29, 2016

Apple won the latest round in its battle with the U.S. government over accessing iPhones in criminal investigations on Monday when a federal judge said he would not force the technology company to assist in a drug probe.

Some victims of the San Bernardino attack will file a legal brief in support of the U.S. government’s attempt to force Apple Inc to unlock the encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters, a lawyer representing the victims said on Sunday.

The county government that owned the iPhone in a high-profile legal battle between Apple Inc. and the Justice Department paid for but never installed a feature that would have allowed the FBI to easily and immediately unlock the phone as part of the terrorism investigation into the shootings that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.

Sources go on the record alleging that witnesses called to testify have been threatened.

Fox 11 News has exposed one case after another of children beaten, tortured, and left to die in abusive homes in our ongoing series, The Children Are Dying. Our sources say many of those children would be alive today if the San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services had done its job.

Apple resists demand to help FBI hack into terrorist’s iPhone

Setting up a pitched battle between Silicon Valley and the counter-terrorism community, Apple’s chief executive said Wednesday that his company would fight a court order demanding the tech giant’s help in the San Bernardino attack investigation, turning what had been a philosophical dispute into a legal skirmish that could have major ramifications for the tech industry.

Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to federal investigators, a stunning reversal for the longtime law enforcement leader who for years insisted he played no role in the misconduct that tarnished his agency.

Martin Shkreli, the boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested by federal agents at his Manhattan home early Thursday morning on securities fraud related to a firm he founded.

A coalition of national legal authorities is calling for a federal investigation of the Orange County District Attorney and Sheriff’s Department for alleged systemic violations of defendants’ rights involving jail informants.

LOS ANGELES >> In a case stemming from the beating of a handcuffed man at Men’s Central Jail, a sixth former member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was indicted Friday on federal charges for allegedly participating in the cover-up of the incident.

Capping years of scandal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has agreed to federal oversight of its jail system in an effort to end abuse of inmates by sheriff’s deputies and to improve chronically poor treatment of mentally ill inmates.

Judge Thomas Goethals handed the case to the California Attorney General’s Office, which is appealing on the grounds that the sheriff’s department — which oversees the jails and snitches — committed misconduct, not the district attorney’s office. (Mark Rightmire / File Photo)

In April 2013, searches were conducted in the homes of Moreno Valley’s four City Council members, a real estate broker with political connections and the corporate office of Skechers warehouse developer Highland Fairview.

Published: June 1, 2015 – Updated: 10:59 p.m.

After two years under investigation by authorities and suspicion by constituents, the people whose homes and offices were raided during a public corruption probe in Moreno Valley felt vindicated Monday by the disclosure that no criminal charges would be filed.

To read story by Brian Rokos and David Danelski in The Press-Enterprise, click here.

What began more than four years ago as a federal investigation into brutality and corruption by deputies in L.A. County jails reached the highest echelons of the Sheriff’s Department on Thursday, with two top officials indicted on charges of orchestrating an elaborate scheme to thwart the FBI.

Former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka.

By Jack Leonard and Richard Winton May 13, 2015

Federal authorities are expected to announce indictments Thursday against former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and a retired sheriff’s captain in the ongoing investigation into excessive force and corruption in the county’s jails, according to sources familiar with the probe.

As expected, the U.S. Department of Justice has entered into Thursday’s tape recorded use of force incident caught on tape by Los Angeles-based KNBC-TV 4, involving San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies, who appear to use excessive force in the apprehension of a suspect after a long pursuit involving an automobile and horseback.

A bipartisan pair of California House members are insisting that the Justice Department back off from prosecutions of medical marijuana patients and providers in states with medical marijuana laws – as Congress mandated in a recent spending bill.

A reader forwarded a link to an exhaustive article, published in California Lawyer magazine, discussing alleged misconduct by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California and the California Attorney General, in a civil case stemming from the costly 2007 Moonlight Fire in Plumas County.

Senate Democrats will mount their fourth filibuster on the bill Monday afternoon.

By John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett 2/22/15 – 6:17 PM EST

Late Monday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will force the fourth vote in three weeks on a bill to fund the massive agency that protects Americans from terrorists, floods and incursions across the borders. Senate Democrats will almost certainly block it again.

Former state Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) was indicted last year on 24 felony charges, including accepting $88,000 in bribes. He has pleaded not guilty. (Manny Crisostomo / Sacramento Bee)

By Patrick McGreevy February 21, 2015

A year after his indictment on federal corruption charges, former state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon awaits his day in court, working as a manager at a real estate firm and helping his attorneys sift thousands of documents that include transcripts from undercover FBI wiretaps.

Regulator is responding to criminal investigations of improper contact

By Jeff McDonald Feb. 19, 2015 – 4:56 p.m.

The California Public Utilities Commission has hired one of the top criminal defense attorneys in the state to respond to investigations of improper contact between regulators and the utility companies they oversee.

A federal grand jury is investigating claims of deputy misconduct at West Valley Detention Center nearly a year after the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and FBI launched separate probes into possible inmate civil rights violations at the jail.

Michael Peevey, president of the state Public Utilities Commission listens to the speakers at the California Public Utilities Commission meeting, Thursday January 27, 2011, in San Francisco, Calif. (Photo: Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle / SFC)

By Jaxon Van Derbeken Monday, February 16, 2015 – Updated 9:07 am

A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. executive exploited former state Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey’s intense interest in a Kern County alternative-energy project in making a backroom deal to win favorable treatment for the company, newly released e-mails show.

Thursday morning’s “Building community trust” roundtable discussion in Oakland with Attorney General Eric Holder, local law enforcement, elected officials and community leaders was designed to “build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.” After brief remarks, Holder and company dismissed the press corps.

A federal grand jury has been convened and is hearing testimony related to an FBI investigation into the alleged Taser gun torture of inmates at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, an attorney said Wednesday.

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca in 2011; a grand jury is now hearing testimony about the actions of Baca and Paul Tanaka, his top aide at the time, as they reacted to discovery of a cellphone provided to a county jail inmate by the FBI. (Al Seib, Los Angeles Times)

By Cindy Chang January 11, 2015

It seems that federal prosecutors are after the “big fish” in L.A. County Jail obstruction-of-justice inquiry

In a sharp reversal of federal drug policy, Congress has prohibited the Justice Department from interfering with laws in California and other states that allow the medical use of marijuana. And the turnabout caught the immediate attention of federal judges, who want to know its impact on some recent criminal convictions under the federal law that classifies pot as one of the most dangerous drugs.

Under a provision in the spending bill passed by Congress over the weekend, states where medical marijuana is legal would no longer need to worry about federal drug agents raiding retail operations. Agents would be prohibited from doing so.

By Evan Halper December 16, 2014

‘The first time in decades that the federal government has curtailed its oppressive prohibition of marijuana’

FILE – In this Jan. 14, 2014, file photo, a Bank of America sign is photographed in Philadelphia. A person familiar with the matter says Bank of America has agreed to pay between $16 billion and $17 billion to settle an investigation into its sale of mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

By Kevin Smith, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Posted: 08/06/14, 7:20 PM PDT | Updated: 1 min ago

Bank of America has tentatively agreed to pay up to $17 billion to settle an investigation into its sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities leading up to the nation’s financial crisis, an insider said Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors have added a charge of racketeering to the corruption and gun-running case against state Sen. Leland Yee, filing an amended indictment this week that includes new allegations that the San Francisco Democrat traded official favors for campaign cash.

With Citigroup Inc. agreeing to pay $7 billion for issuing toxic mortgage securities, the Justice Department now turns to settling its case against what analysts call the biggest mortgage miscreant of all: Bank of America Corp.

Former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka was testifying in the case of a deputy charged with obstruction of justice earlier this year when the prosecutor asked if he was familiar with a common investigative tactic: Start with low-level criminals, then go after their bosses.

A jury Tuesday found six members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department guilty of attempting to impede a federal civil rights inquiry into the county jails, providing prosecutors with a decisive victory as they continue to investigate higher-level officials tied to the scandal.

A prosecutor urged a jury Friday to convict six members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of witness tampering, but their attorneys countered that the defendants were simply following orders from superiors when they helped keep an inmate informant hidden within the jail system during a federal probe of prisoner abuse.

A videotape of an encounter between two sheriff’s sergeants and an FBI agent outside the agent’s home, played in federal court Wednesday, showed a surprisingly polite exchange, even as the agent was advised she would soon be arrested.

David Smith, 26, of Covina, is the latest inmate to come forward alleging he was abused by deputies at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

A former inmate and chow server at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga said he was subjected to five years of Taser gun abuse by at least a dozen deputies who stunned him more than 80 times.

The deputy described beating inmates unprovoked, slapping them, shooting them with a Taser gun and aggressively searching them to pick a fight — something he learned “on the job.” He would huddle with other jail guards to get their stories straight and write up reports with bogus scenarios justifying the brutality. If the inmate had no visible injuries, he wouldn’t report the use of force, period.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> Four more inmates have filed a lawsuit against San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon and at least seven other members of the department, alleging abuse while incarcerated at the West Valley Detention Center jail.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon on Tuesday gave a tour of the West Valley Detention Center, praising the facility as first rate while countering allegations of inmate abuse in the wake of an FBI investigation, the firings of three deputies and the filing of a federal lawsuit by half a dozen inmates alleging civil rights violations.